


Let your dreams take wing

by silvermoongirl10



Series: Exists in a delicate balance [28]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: A character has a stammer, Bullying, Caring Obi-Wan Kenobi, Cody knows everything, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Master & Padawan Relationship(s), Oblivious Obi-Wan Kenobi, Protective Obi-Wan Kenobi, but the bullies are dealt with, there is some bullying shown towards this character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:20:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29085270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silvermoongirl10/pseuds/silvermoongirl10
Summary: When visiting the Creche, Obi-Wan comes across a youngling who believes she will never become a Jedi Knight due to her stammer. Obi-Wan decides to help her and prove one day she will become a Knight. Cody believes his cyare just met his next Padawan.(Set 9 years after the Clone Wars.)
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody/Obi-Wan Kenobi, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Original Child Character(s), Obi-Wan Kenobi & Original Jedi Character(s)
Series: Exists in a delicate balance [28]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1978357
Comments: 8
Kudos: 81





	Let your dreams take wing

After a Council meeting Obi-Wan was heading down to the Creche, as a twenty-one-year-old Senior Padawan, Ranna was on a two-week long mission with another Senior Padawan, a step needed before she could take her Trials in a few years. While he knew Ranna was more than capable of taking care of herself, it didn't mean he wasn't worrying about his Padawan, this was the first mission Ranna was undertaking without himself and Cody. His husband had been distracting himself by sparring with Rex in the training salles and Obi-Wan had just been trying to keep himself busy.

When he had almost reached the Creche he couldn't help but smile seeing the Skywalker twins and Annileen Domino running past him, the three children laughing as they chased each other. He stepped into the Creche and waved a greeting to Master Lo before he headed in the direction of the courtyard garden for the older younglings around aged three and four, before they were moved to the Initiate dorms when they were five. Once he reached the door to the garden, he expected to see a large group of younglings, but was surprised to only see a small group of four younglings. He checked the time and realised that most of the younglings would be completing a task with one of the Creche Masters. Deciding it would be best if he came back later, he turned, just about to leave the garden when his attention was drawn back to the four younglings who he thought to be around four years old. Three of them were stood up, talking to a little girl who was sat huddled on the floor underneath one of the trees, her head was bowed so her short blonde hair fell forward and hid her face from view. He listened as a human boy and a human girl who were stood up were complaining at the blonde girl. Obi-Wan frowned as their voices carried across the space to him.

"Al you shouldn't ignore us, it's very rude," frowned the girl stood up, her little arms crossed over her front.

The boy nodded and shook his head, "Jedi are not supposed to be rude. Master Yoda would be disappointed in you Al."

A Wookie youngling began tugging the boy and girl away, "Al wants to be alone, so we should respect that." Noticing the two human younglings were about to say something and seeing how Al looked on the verge of tears, Obi-Wan stepped away from the doorway and towards the younglings.

"Younglings," he stated gaining their attention. Al's green eyes widened and then she hid her face again, this time behind her hands. The younglings who were stood up all turned to him and froze. "Your friend is right; you should learn to respect when beings wish to be left alone." The Wookie glared at the two humans, clearly saying that they should have listened to them before. Obi-Wan gestured to the door with his head, "now run along." The three younglings quickly passed him, the Wookie grinning up at him in thanks. Obi-Wan smiled and then turned towards Al, and slowly walked towards her before sitting down on the grass in front of her.

Slowly ever so slowly, she lifted her head and mouthed his name in greeting. Obi-Wan smiled and gently brushed away the few tears that had slipped down her cheeks. "Hello young one," he smiled. "You know my name, but I am afraid I do not know yours. Did I hear correctly you are called Al?"

Instantly the youngling shook her head as she frowned and traced one of her fingers in the dirt. Obi-Wan's eyes followed the movement and once the girl leaned back, he read the name she had drawn in the dirt. Aliyash.

"Aliyash?" he asked, wanting to check he had said it right and was rewarded with a blinding grin. "Why did the other younglings call you Al?" he asked. It wasn't like the Creche Masters to allow younglings to call each other names certain younglings did not like. Such as when he was a youngling, he only allowed his best friends to call him Obi, but didn't like other younglings calling him that.

Aliyash frowned and after a sigh she opened her mouth and very quietly spoke. "I…I c-c-can-n-not s-s-peak-k." And then Obi-Wan instantly understood. Aliyash had a stammer.

"Do the other younglings not allow you enough time to say your whole name?" he asked softly, and Aliyash just nodded in response. Obi-Wan had thought so, he had seen this before. One of his Crechemates had also had a stammer and his name had been shortened by the other younglings because they didn't have the patience to listen to him to say his whole name. Nodding to himself, Obi-Wan pulled out his smaller datapad he kept in a pocket in his belt and opened the text box and handed it to Aliyash. "How old are you young one?" he asked.

Aliyash smiled as she typed her answer and then turned the screen towards Obi-Wan, he read her answer. 'I am four years old'. He nodded, knowing he had guessed her age correctly. His attention was then drawn back to the little girl when she typed a question for him. 'Why do you want to talk to me?'

"I like spending time in the Creche with the younglings," he replied evenly, confused by Aliyash's question, it was well known that if he had a spare moment, he would always spend time in the Creche.

Aliyash shrugged, 'but I will never be a Knight.' Obi-Wan's blood ran cold at her answer.

"Do you believe that because you have a stammer?" he asked, trying to keep the emotion out of his voice, knowing the girl would not respond well to perceived pity. Aliyash nodded, so he reached forward and gently held her hands as he said "one of my Crechemates had a stammer and he became a Knight, so I know you will also." Aliyash looked dubious and it broke Obi-Wan's heart, no child should have to grow up thinking they couldn't achieve their dreams because of something they were born with, even species who were blind their entire lives became Knights. Obi-Wan then had an idea, after Cody and many of his brothers had been teaching Padawan hand signals that were used during the war, some of Cody's brothers had been teaching classes to the Initiates, sensing the usefulness of hand signals. As Aliyash was only a year out from attending those classes Obi-Wan decided to offer to teach her the signals, as a way for her to communicate. Once he made the offer Aliyash grinned widely at him and nodded enthusiastically at him, "y-yes p-p-pleas-s-se!"

Seeing how happy Aliyash looked, Obi-Wan decided to teach her some of the simple hand signals there and then, his heart lightening at Aliyash's excitement. They stayed in the garden for a couple of hours, Obi-Wan's mind being drawn away from the lesson when he felt a pulse of amusement from his life bond with Cody. He turned towards the door to the garden and noticed Cody and Master Lo both stood looking at him and Aliyash with amusement on their faces. Obi-Wan checked the time and realised he and Aliyash were both late for dinner.

"It appears we got carried away Aliyash, it seems it is time for dinner," he smiled. Aliyash laughed as they got to their feet. He looked down at the little girl and rested a hand on one of her shoulders. "Just because you have a stammer, does not mean you are not clever, remember that Aliyash." The girl looked up at him, her green eyes shining with happiness and she signed 'thank you' and then began skipping across the garden towards Master Lo. The Creche Master looked at him in surprise and then his face broke out into a thankful smile, the older Master it seemed had not heard Aliyash laugh all that much.

As he walked across the garden, seeing Master Lo and Aliyash disappear into the Temple, heading towards the refectory the Initiates and younglings used, Obi-Wan stepped up to his husband and leaned into Cody's space.

Cody smiled as he ran a hand through Obi-Wan's hair, the Jedi closing his eyes in contentment. "What did you get so distracted by?" asked Cody, as he began directing them away from the garden and out of the Creche.

"Aliyash has a stammer so I was teaching her hand signals, she believes she will never become a Knight," commented Obi-Wan, his tone a mixture of pride at how quickly Aliyash learnt the signals he taught her, but equally sadness at the thought Aliyash really believed she would never become a Knight.

"She believes that because of her stammer?" asked Cody, his voice tense and his shoulders tight. His cyare always hated it when something made beings believe they could never achieve their dreams, he especially hated seeing it in children.

"Yes," confirmed Obi-Wan, he wrapped an arm around Cody's shoulder. "She will become a Knight; I know she will."

"The Force tell you that?" asked Cody, his brown eyes slightly narrowed.

"No. I had a Crechemate who had a stammer, Masters helped him learn how to create coping strategies for his stammer and he became a Knight," said Obi-Wan with a smile. He had never understood why his fellow younglings and Initiates seemed to believe their Crechemate would never become a Knight, he had been smart, kind and funny, just because he took longer to say something didn't make him any less worthy to become a Knight.

"Good," nodded Cody, his posture relaxing. He then turned to Obi-Wan a thoughtful look on his face. "So, are you going to help her? And not just by teaching her hand signals."

Obi-Wan thought, remembering his Crechemate had been an Initiate when he was taught coping strategies. Thinking about it, he saw no problem with teaching Aliyash some coping strategies now, in fact it might benefit her more if she started to learn them when she was young. Although Obi-Wan decided he was going to need to do some research into coping strategies knowing that the strategies that worked for his Crechemate might not work for Aliyash. "I don't see why not," he replied, his mind already thinking about asking Madam Nu for information on stammers and coping strategies for them.

* * *

Cody smiled as he greeted Ranna in the refectory, glad to see the young woman return to the Temple unharmed. She had obviously stopped by their quarters to get cleaned up because the end of her Padawan braid was damp. He stood up from his chair and hugged her, Ranna smiled at him and then frowned in confusion at the empty chair beside him. "Did Master get distracted again?" she asked with a knowing look.

Laughing, Cody sat down, Ranna opposite him already tucking into the selection of food he got her, and nodded. "Your Master has spent the past ten days helping a youngling, Aliyash, who has a stammer."

Ranna smiled, "that sounds like Master."

Cody nodded in agreement, it was why he loved his cyare so much, he always cared about everyone he came across. Cody didn't even mind that he had not seen much of his husband in the past ten days, he felt through their life bond how proud Obi-Wan was of Aliyash as she learnt more hand signals and began trying different coping strategies with Obi-Wan. As he ate his lunch, he listened to Ranna explain how her mission went, no matter how proud Cody was of Ranna, a part of him was saddened, because he knew soon Ranna would be Knighted and moving out of their quarters. She had been Obi-Wan's Padawan for eight years and he wished there were at least another eight years more of her in their team. But it seemed that there might just be another Padawan waiting in the wings, something he and Ranna laughed about, both of them wondering when Obi-Wan might make that realisation.

Every night Cody had listened to Obi-Wan talk about Aliyash, and while he was not Force sensitive, even he could tell Obi-Wan would be a great Master for the little girl. And with Aliyash being four years old, there was plenty of time for Obi-Wan to finish Ranna's training and for her to be Knighted, before Aliyash would be ready to become a Padawan. Perhaps he would not be transforming the Padawan bedroom into a home cinema like Fives was joking he should, because it looked almost certain to him, that within a year or two of Ranna moving out, Aliyash would be moving in.

* * *

Ranna greeted Master Lo as she entered the Creche, looking for her wayward Master. Her old Creche Master pointed towards the youngling garden and she nodded her thanks as she began to walk through the Creche towards the garden doors. Seeing a small huddle of younglings gathered around the door, she followed their gazes and smiled as she observed her Master sat underneath a tree, a little girl next to him, the sunlight bouncing off her golden blonde hair, as Aliyash stared in concentration at the hand signal Master Obi-Wan was making.

Her smile dropped off her face as she listened to the gathered younglings.

"It's not fair, why does _she_ get to spend time with Master Kenobi?"

"It's not like she's _ever_ going to become a Knight."

"Do you think if we pretend we can't speak, Master Kenobi will spend time with us?"

"Yeah! Then maybe he'll choose one of us to be his next Padawan!"

Ranna stepped forward, making sure her footsteps made a heavy sound on the wooden flooring. "My Master would not even consider such deceitful younglings as yourselves to be his next Padawan." The four gathered younglings all turned to look at her, their small eyes wide in horror.

"Padawan Carn!"

"We…we were only joking!"

Ranna crossed her arms and glared down at the younglings. "I highly doubt you were joking; you did not even know I was here. I am very disappointed to hear your disparaging comments about Aliyash." From the corner of her eye, Ranna noticed Master Lo stood nearby, a frown on his face, obviously he had heard the younglings as well. She leaned closer to the younglings, her height allowing her to tower over them. "I want you to listen to me _very carefully_. I will _not_ tolerate such behaviour directed towards my future sister-Padawan. Aliyash will be a credit to my lineage, and if I hear you have been bullying her. Then you will have to deal with me. Is that _clear?_ " The four heads nodded so hard, Ranna wouldn't be surprised if they strained their necks. She stood back to her full height and nodded towards Master Lo. "I believe Master Lo would like to speak to you. _Now_." She added when the younglings seemed to hesitate. Instantly the four younglings darted around her and then slowly stepped towards the Creche Master.

She then turned back to the garden and watched as Aliyash waved goodbye to Master Obi-Wan and headed back into the main Temple for her lunch. Ranna smiled as her Master's face broke out into a wide smile when he caught sight of her. The next thing she knew she was being hugged tightly by her Master.

"I got a tip from Cody that this is where you would be," she said into her Master's shoulder.

"Cody is always knowledgeable about where I am," smirked Master Obi-Wan.

"I think he got a lot of practice tracking you in the war going by the stories he told me," chuckled Ranna. Together they then turned and began walking out of the Creche, she sent one more hard stare towards the younglings she had spoken to, causing her Master to look at her in confusion. She smiled innocently at her Master and said, "I was just letting some younglings know I do not tolerate any bullying aimed towards my future sister-Padawan."

"Your _what?_ " exclaimed Master Obi-Wan in shock. She rolled her eyes, it looked like Cody was right, her Master was totally oblivious about the youngling who was going to be his next Padawan.

* * *

While Ranna had dinner out of their quarters, so she could catch up with some of her friends who were in Temple. Cody and Obi-Wan ate their dinner and then moved to the sofa, so they could stretch out and curl up close to each other.

Cody was distractedly running his fingers through his cyare's hair, watching as the mostly copper but with some grey hair twisted and fell around his fingers. As Obi-Wan hummed in pleasure, then his cyare peaked up at him. "Is there a reason Ranna is under the assumption I'm going to be taking on another Padawan?"

Snorting in amusement Cody replied, "she probably worked that out from what I had told her about you and Aliyash. Then she would have seen the two of you in the Creche garden and gone from there."

Obi-Wan sat up slightly, leaning on his elbow, dislodging Cody's hand and frowned. "But I haven't said anything about taking Aliyash on as a Padawan. I was planning on Ranna being my last Padawan."

"Well, fate and the Force has something else planned for you," smirked Cody. Seeing Obi-Wan's unimpressed look he chuckled. "Look, I know I'm not Force sensitive, but even I can see how well matched you and Aliyash are." He then turned so he was lying flat on his back and smirked up at his husband. "Also, if you don't take Aliyash, you can be the one to disappoint Ranna and Anakin."

"Oh _, for Force sake!_ " cursed Obi-Wan, as he ran a hand through his hair. "Even Anakin is in on this?!"

Cody's body jolted with his burst of laughter at the look on his cyare's face. "Anakin is planning on getting you a 'congratulations on your new Padawan' cake. The cake is for the party Feemor is planning on holding. It's supposed to be a surprise, so don't act like I've told you anything."

Obi-Wan flopped down on his chest with a huff, "I'm not going to have a choice, am I?"

"Nope," grinned Cody as he tucked Obi-Wan's head under his chin so he could hug his husband better. "And don't sound so put out. I know you like Aliyash, there will be no hardship for you making her your Padawan. You both are already building a close Master and Padawan bond." Obi-Wan hummed in thought as he lightly traced his fingers over Cody's chest.

"Would you mind if I take on another Padawan? You will have to live with Aliyash and she'll be going on missions with us." Said Obi-Wan, his voice hesitant. Something that told Cody that Obi-Wan _did_ want to take Aliyash on as his Padawan in the future.

Resting one hand on Obi-Wan's back and his other hand in Obi-Wan's hair, Cody smiled. "Cyare, seeing you with a Padawan brings out the side of you I love the most. Your patient and caring side, how you take pride in their accomplishments and help them through their disappointments. Why would I mind if you take on another Padawan?" He kissed Obi-Wan's forehead and smiled. "Besides, when I married you the vow does say we will raise warriors. We're just raising Padawans as a word change."

Obi-Wan laughed, his shoulders shaking, he looked up and Cody felt his soft fingers trace the scar on his face. "I suppose in that case, Cod'ika, in about seven years, would you like to raise another Padawan with me?"

Knowing his brown eyes were gleaming with amusement, Cody nodded. "Ob'ika, it would be my pleasure to raise another Padawan with you." He then pulled his cyare's head down so that he could kiss him deeply. While he was lost in the sensation of his husband's soft lips against his, he did keep an eye on the time. Remembering the last time he kissed Obi-Wan on the sofa and Ranna and Anakin entered the quarters and loudly exclaimed that there were just some things they were not supposed to see their Master doing, like kissing his husband on the sofa apparently.

His cyare pulled back with a low chuckle, probably thinking the same thing as Cody and raised an eyebrow in amusement. "And you want another one running about our quarters."

"Force help me, yes I do," replied Cody with a laugh. Obi-Wan smiled and then rested his head underneath Cody's chin, hugged Cody around the middle as he drifted in a half asleep, half awake state. With one more kiss pressed to the crown of Obi-Wan's head, Cody let his own eyes close and let his mind wander to the future.

**Author's Note:**

> Annileen Domino is my OC who is Echo's adopted daughter, introduced in my Fives & Echo series.
> 
> There will be two more fics in this series, there are going to be some big time jumps after this one. This is because I wanted to explore how their lives go after the war.


End file.
